Support Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Enforcement

Thank you for joining me in the fight to ensure those in desperate need of treatment get the help they need to live health, happy lives.

As Chair of the California Senate Mental Health Caucus and Select Committee on Mental Health I organized a coalition of leaders -- including Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones -- to make mental health and substance abuse parity a top budget priority. The result is the Mental Health Parity Enforcement Budget Act.

The Mental Health Parity Enforcement Budget Act would dramatically improve consumer and provider transparency, adopt national standards and force health insurers to submit documented evidence --surveys of consumers and providers and other analysis --to prove they are complying with the law. But most importantly, it provides the funding, derived primarily from fees on insurance plans, to ensure regulators have the tools they need to enforce the tougher standards and rules.